But here, I want to share a little bit more about how to find your overall writing voice. Which is, I believe, the single greatest struggle for most writers. And it’s also the key to unlocking your creative potential.

Spending some time deliberating over voice is worth your attention and focus. Whether you blog for fun, write novels, craft poems, pencil melodies, or inspire people with your prose, it’s essential that you find your unique writing style.

If you struggle with getting people to read your writing or with staying consistent in your craft, you need to stop chasing numbers and productivity and reboot. It’s time to start finding and developing that voice of yours.

An exercise for finding your voice

Not sure where to start? No problem. Most of us need help understanding our voice. Here’s a short exercise that can help you — just follow these 10 steps:

Describe yourself in three adjectives. Example: snarky, fun, and flirty.

Ask (and answer) the question: “Is this how I talk?”

Imagine your ideal reader. Describe him in detail. Then, write to him, and only him. Example: My ideal reader is smart. He has a sense of humor, a short attention span, and is pretty savvy when it comes to technology and pop culture. He’s sarcastic and fun, but doesn’t like to waste time. And he loves pizza.

Jot down at least five books, articles, or blogs you like to read. Spend some time examining them. How are they alike? How are they different? What about how they’re written intrigues you? Often what we admire is what we aspire to be. Example: Copyblogger, Chris Brogan, Seth Godin, Ernest Hemingway, and C.S. Lewis. I like these writers, because their writing is intelligent, pithy, and poignant.

List your favorite artistic and cultural influences. Are you using these as references in your writing, or avoiding them, because you don’t think people would understand them. Example: I use some of my favorite bands’ music in my writing to teach deeper lessons.

Ask other people: “What’s my voice? What do I sound like?” Take notes of the answers you get.

Free-write. Just go nuts. Write in a way that’s most comfortable to you, without editing. Then go back and read it, asking yourself, “Do I publish stuff that sounds like this?”

Read something you’ve recently written, and honestly ask yourself, “Is this something I would read?” If not, you must change your voice.

Ask yourself: “Do I enjoy what I’m writing as I’m writing it?” If it feels like work, you may not be writing like yourself. (Caveat: Not every writer loves the act of writing, but it’s at least worth asking.)

Pay attention to how you’re feeling. How do you feel before publishing? Afraid? Nervous? Worried? Good. You’re on the right track. If you’re completely calm, then you probably aren’t being vulnerable. Try writing something dangerous, something a little more you. Fear can be good. It motivates you to make your writing matter.

Why do you need a writing voice?

Finding your voice is the key to getting dedicated followers and fans and that it’s the only sustainable way to write. If you’re not being yourself, you’ll eventually burn out.

Once you’ve found your voice, make sure you continue to develop it. It’s a discipline, one that can’t be overlooked if you’re going to have the impact you desire and that your words deserve.

The bottom line is that there’s a lot of noise out there in the world. If you’re going to get heard, you can’t just raise your voice. You’ve got to set yourself apart, showing you have something special to say, and that you have a unique way of saying it.

Recommended reading: For more on this topic of finding your voice as a writer, you should read Bird by Bird (affiliate link), an excellent book on the writing life by Anne Lamott.

What does your writing voice sound like? Have you found it, or are you still searching? Share in the comments.

Jeff…this is a very encouraging post. I’ve found that trying to find my voice requires a lot of self-definition in general. I’ve had to ask myself some tough questions that I never had the need to ask myself before I start blogging. If there’s one thing that has surprised me the most about blogging, it’s the innate self-actualization that is a part of the process.

Is having a “voice” different than your subject matter? Everything I write seems so random. And now that I’m getting more readers/followers, I feel the need to too think hard before I post anything. Brain…melting….

Hey Jeff, this is a very useful list. So many people struggle with writing because they try to genericize themselves into a “standard appropriate” writing voice, rather than letting themselves be who they actually are – which would be a lot more memorable.

Congratulations on the great guest post on Problogger. Have you considered pitching Copyblogger on a post like this one?

I love this post Jeff. I’ve really never thought of many of the ideas you’ve listed here and they will certainly help me find my true writing voice and/or if I’m at least on the right track to doing so.

I know you wrote this a few days ago Jeff, but I’ve been chewing on it for a few days, reading it and re-reading it. You’ve given me a lot to think about. I may have a post in response to this at some point, and I’ll link back to it. Is that cool with you?

Just used your tips the other day and it worked like a dream! In particular #3 describing your ideal reader. It not only gave me more confidence when writing, but placed more depth and passion behind the words. I linked this article to my post because I think everyone, not just writers, could learn a thing or two about their communication style just by thinking through these exercises. Thanks again!

Jeff, I’m new to your site and I like what I see so far. I’ve been told a couple times that I write like I speak in person. Maybe that means that subconsciously I have already found my “writing voice.” We’ll how that plays out in my blogs. Either way, I appreciate what you said here, I will give it some more thought, and I will be back. Thanks again.

I think this is a wonderful exercise! I’m going to go and do it now! And then read the Writer’s Manifesto! I just found your blog, so I have some catching up to do as far as reading your posts. You posted on ProBlogger? Congratulations!
I think your blog is amazing. I hope to make a difference in the world with my writing, too.

I am in love with this post. It is exactly what I needed at this very moment. I’ve recently started a blog & I find myself so caught up in the traffic & aesthetic aspect that I’ve been asking myself, “So what the heck are you gonna write about?” And essentially, that is the most important part. I really needed this and it’s amazing how you came up with such spot-on exercises. I’m thinking, Duh, why didn’t I think of that? 🙂 I really loved your Fable post re: growing an audience. It really spoke to the goal of this whole thing: reach your tribe, no matter how big or small and do it your way. Love it!

great post! in the past, i’ve worried that my language is too specialized. after identifying my ideal reader in #3, i’ve started embrace the notion that it’s ok to presume that my audience has a basic background in the topic i’m writing about & i don’t have to go back to square one with each post.

The one thing I learnt very early, especially on reading Christopher Hitchens, is the importance of having one’s own voice. I have ever since been experimenting with my ‘voice’, and have seemed to comfortably voice it in letters in many a patches. To get it consistently, though, one must practice it till it becomes the very essence of one’s letters, and it’s this quest that makes this post very useful to me.

Finding your voice is a tough one. The thing that gets me is I look at writers I like and how they weave their stories. I try to write my own, and suddenly everything I’ve tried to learn about the craft of writing, as well as my favorite authors’ styles seem to go out the window. Then I’m left with what appears to be mush on the page. NOTHING like what my favorite authors wrote. Also my voice wants to mimic the authors of old, especially L.M. Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables series. It’s difficult for me to make the switch to the modern style of writing. But I keep plugging away.

These are all good steps to find your own voice. I am not a copywriter myself but I can imagine when you are constantly writing for your clients and adopting to the tone of theiar website, sometimes you may lose your natural voice when you are writing on your own blog.

Hi Jeff, It’s me again, in my desperate attempt to find my voice. It’s funny, I struggled in describing myself in three words. In fact, I used two of your examples! I am not giving up, and refuse not to knowe myself!! P.S. I have been spending the last two days on launching my blog/website, exhausting!! So, today I am back to lesson 2 focus on my voice and narrowing my theme. I’m the little red caboose, “I know, Ican!”

Hi Jeff,
It’s me ,yes you can Shan. I am so thankful for your courseie, and the exercises you provide. I have to be honest, until now I really did not know myself at all. It was frightening and exciting at the same time to give focus to myself as I answered the questions. I haVE alot more to revgeal about myself, as I use differnt styles in answering your questions. I have described my reader in detail. I even wrote to them explaining my blog’s intentions; to make them laugh and then think after every post. I have not narrowed down my subject, and still honing in on my voice.

I encourage my students to read their writing aloud and ask themselves or a peer, “Does this sound like me?” If the answer is no, I challenge them to simply talk about the subject in their compositions for a moment, while I jot down some of the words and phrases they use in their ramblings.

Very good. This is something I constantly struggle with. I’m always looking for someone else’s voice to write in, mainly because everyone else’s voice seems so much more preferable than my own. The result, I think, is more often than not a poor impersonation.

This is really helpful. I am a new blogger and have been trying to find ways to “discover my voice”. To be honest, I don’t even fully know what that means. No one has been able to give me any real answers. The only thing I have heard is “write, write and write”. Which I know is important. But what if all I do is write and it is all crap?

This post gave me some concrete steps to begin going through the process of discovering my voice.

I will be implementing some of your suggestions very soon. Humor is a hard thing to convey, at least for me, in writing. I never know how it’ll be perceived, so at times I stay away from it even though it’s part of my personality.

Do immigrants have trouble finding voice? As immigrants trying to fit in to the surrounding culture, we tend to copy, watch, learn. We want to fit in, be accepted. When we write, people don’t get our meaning. We have to rewrite until we sound like the culture around us. It’s frustrating. DO immigrants struggle when using their unique voice? Seems I do.

Raising the same question to one of my teachers a few years back, I was told that my mother language and culture only complement my writing. It took me a while to believe it, but when other teachers and advisors told me the same thing, I started believing it. It made a difference! Little things like grammar and spelling never stop interfering, but working on your writing you can finish what you write to read well, be clear, meaninful and inspiring.

I am still looking for my voice, feeling like I am copying everyone else and not quite getting where I want. But I am inspired. I answered all ther questions, even wrote a long free-writing text and published it (almost) without editing. This was just what I needed. Thanks. 🙂

I am well on the way to finding my voice, the rest I will do by writing 300+ words every day.

A question for you: What does one do regarding dialect/regional differences?

I’m British and my writing voice shows this in the way I form a sentence, my spelling and my ‘slang’ I suppose. But I want the book to do well everywhere (I’m greedy like that) not only England, so should I make my voice less me and more generic, or just go with it as is?

I say you should let your voice speak for itself because after it impacts your local audience, the rest of the world will hear of all you have to offer and naturally make its way into their hearts. Be true to yourself. Keep improving and perfecting your craft, and guaranteed, you will be heard.

Hello Jeff. I found you to be interesting however I embark each day on a quest to bring about the forgotten life of this nation , the life that could so easily change our ways of political awareness, who we are as (Americans) and what it means to come together as a nation! Should we be proud or ashamed , should we be humble or glorify ourselves in the selfish unfair acts of taking as much as we can from each other without considering that all this taking has given nothing! So with this being said could you somehow consider showing me a way that I might convey these important words needing to be expressed in this hour of need to our country? thank-you for all youve given. Brianjwebb56@gmail.com

This is an excellent post with valuable advice. I must say, it is difficult to be “dangerous” when establishing your authority in the writing world. I agree one should be genuine and true to self. But I also think it is important to walk the line of witty and respectful carefully in the beginning. What advice do you have for a writer starting out with regard to cozying up to controversy:)

Hey Jeff-
So, being a student like I am, I am told all hours of the day to never write like I talk. Writing is prim and proper and I’m told to express yourself through that medium, omitting all the lols and omgs I use when I talk.
I tend to give up on tremendously esoteric writing and disregard colloquial writing. What’s the balance?

I have wanted to start a blog for over a year, only I stalled because I didn’t know how to set one up. So I went to a seminar and took great notes, only then I stalled because I didn’t have a nice camera to take gorgeous photos to post on my blog. So . . . I stalled again. Indefinitely. Only now that I’ve read your list, I’m excited again because I feel like I can actually be doing something until I buy that camera and get my blog site set up. My mind is buzzing with answers to your questions and I can’t wait to put keyboard to screen and create tangible evidence of my dream. Thank you!

Jeff, in 2012 I travelled with my husband to East and South Africa, Madagascar and Southeast Asia. The destinations truly made it a trip of a lifetime. We were gone 3 months. Along the way, I did a travel blog and for me, the writing was an additional highlight. I was able to condense experiences and share photos right away. It was so much fun. As I wrote my posts, I knew I was in my most energized writing voice. I was the authentic me and I could so easily picture the people I was writing for — the ones I know and the ones I don’t know at all! And now, I am on the cusp of launching another blog. As I read your post, I loved the reminder that voice is so important. If I can sustain that energized, engaged voice for my new blog, I think I will be on the right track.

Bookmarked this one, Jeff. Thoughtful and just what I was looking for. Getting ready to put together a blog on what finding your “voice” in a non-writing discipline means, and I wanted to have something to contrast against. Thanks!

Great post, I have read your book and Bird by Bird, I am presently reading 2 books by Heather Sellers, Page after Page and Chapter after Chapter I thought you might want to read and check out Heather’s books.

Hi Jeff, amazing post! I have written a lot of blogs in the past and until now. I guess I have one voice only. But I think I share a lot of things in myblog which makes it not that kind of interesting. Are personal blogs not that interesting?

Wonderful advice…..gets me thinking. As a new writer (Haven’t written since college—Nixon was in office) I find my voice wanders. My daughter keeps insisting I find my voice, but doesn’t always like the voice I enjoy. My sister however, loves the story. These are my two readers and both have helped keep me going.

Probably the
only writing problem I’ve never had is “finding my voice.” I write or I don’t
write. Sometimes I’m pleased with my writing, and other times I toss it because
I’ve lost interest. Been that way since I was a little kid. As for voice, I‘ve
never thought of it as anything other than a metaphor for style. But from you and Gray Korisko, I’ve learned more about “finding
a voice” than I would’ve ever thought possible a month ago. In the past two
weeks, I’ve written two posts about voice—one about voice versus style, and
the other about how I finally figured out that for many new writers “not being
able to find my voice” can be a term for being inhibited or for being afraid
that they will fail. You are an excellent motivator, and I can tell from your
readers’ comments that your advice and suggestions are helping a lot of people.
Keep up the good work. For some odd reason, Disqus will not let me sign in. This has happened before and it might be something I’m doing wrong. I post this as a guest, not that I know what the difference is.

As a fairly new blogger, I find that it is certainly taking time to discover my true voice. I also find that it changes based on various factors – what I’ve read or watched recently, time of day, mood etc!!

4. Victoria Holt and Daphne du Maurier I like these writers, because their writing is intelligent, warm, and gothic. I like writers who do not use profanity and are clean reads. I like to read about ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations.

I hate writing. It tortures and mocks my self worth. People say I am smart and articulate and then I have to write something and it’s like really? At 50 I returned to school to face my fears about writing. At 56 I am finishing a masters and writing is still a grueling and painful reminder that I can not express thoughts in this medium and yet it is required. It’s how we judge competence. I am not incompetent or uneducated or unread but I still can’t write, there is no pleasure in it, only a reminder of my greatest weakness. . .

Anita, may I help, or hope to. I believe and have experienced, that what you say you hate, or cannot do, you are right. In that, you say “I hate writing” and ” but I still cannot write” then you will experience this. Switch to saying everyday “I am a great writer” “I am a writer” (like Jeff did) and I also recommend listening to on a daily basis specific affirmations or subliminal recordings that have brainwave technology in the audio, to help you start to believe you are a writer and CAN write. I hope this helps and that you do at least have a go at what I recommend, as it has helped me tremendously.

This is a good article, Jeff. I usually go about writing with the purpose or my goal in mind, whether it’s through one of my blogs, stories or other writings. I appreciate your exercise because voice isn’t something I necessarily think about.

I just found this website through Blogging your passion. I’m so excited about everything that I am reading and all of the resources you have here. I can’t do anything else right now! I’m even reading all the comments lol! Thank you Jeff for sharing and teaching us all that you have learned along your journey. I had started a blog a couple of years ago and had gotten so discourage on what I was doing that I let it go. I am wanting to start another blog but this time I want to have a clear direction on which way I want to go before I launch it. Finding my voice has been a big problem for me but I will do the exercises you’ve suggested and see what I discover about myself. Thank you again and I look forward to being apart of this community.

Thank you Jeff on your wonderful blog and for using your terrific writing voice for the greater good! These questions are exactly what I need ask myself to make sure that I stay consistent with writing my blog and let my personality come thru even more. Keep up the great work!

I checked out the Lithasa website briefly. Just reading the “About us” section told me all I need to know. I was never an English major but there were enough grammatical errors in those few sentences to scare me away.

I just received confirmation of my subscription with your blog. This post was on you list of must-reads in your email. Until I read it I wasn’t sure of I was searching for my “voice” in the right way. Now I know that I am going about it correctly. 🙂

This is interesting. I’m not sure I can describe my voice per se (I’ll definitely work on that!), but I know I must have a somewhat unique style or voice. I accidentally logged out of a blogging forum where I post regularly, so my post showed up as “anonymous.” However, a writing friend of mine was able to identify that anonymous poster as me, so I guess that’s a good thing! 😉

When I married my husband I was already pregnant and so I didn’t have a job. He had a really good job though so I was able to stay home and take care of our son when it was born. When we had our second child we moved to a bigger house, but then strange things started to happen. Things would fly off the walls and doors would slam at night. Our oldest son talked about seeing figures and hearing voices. We consulted a medium and they said the house was haunted. After living there about a year more with only minor occurrences we moved out. That was when the bad luck started to happen. Everything started to fail, with my husband’s job, our money and our luck in general. I went back to the same medium and they told me that a spirit had followed me and placed a curse upon me for disturbing it and not being respectful in the previous house. He tried to remove it but was unable. The misfortune kept going on and getting more severe as I tried to search out someone to break the curse. But when I found Dr.Azonto spell he finally did it. Things started turning around almost immediately after he cast the spell and have been great from there! This was really a miracle for us, thank you . azontotemple@yahoo.com spell from the bottom of my heart!
Posted by. miss Sandra Chali

Thank you because I’ve always wondered what my writing voice is. I’ve always been told that I take things too seriously and I guess I do but I’ve also been told that I can be funny without meaning to be so I guess ( for the second time huh?) that I’m somewhere in between? I’ll soon find out.

I’m actually close to finding my voice. Over the years, I recently discovered that I tend to be enigmatic with my writing. My voice [and style] is a slash between being sophisticated yet child-like at the same time. I also noticed I get sarcastically witty or deep in meaning. ….Wait; I think I just found my voice after writing this down.

As a copywriter/content developer, I have to find and recreate the “voice” of my clients. Unearthing their vision is often difficult. But prompting them with this exercise is the perfect way to quickly expose the soul of their product/company. GREAT post. Thanks.

My voice is so loud. This was a really great article,and I am going to be using parts of it to help my students to write their own personal narratives. They need to know how they write and why they write this way. English for life!

This post really speaks to me, especially no. 8! I spend so much time getting caught up in whether or not something I’ve written sounds like it should, and not nearly enough time trying to figure out if it sounds like ME. Since I am still in the process of finding my voice (is that process ever done?), I will pay especial attention to no. 8 from now on: whatever it sounds like in the end, it must come from me and represent me, or else it isn’t worth it. Thanks so much for the reminder!

Really great set of exercises, I enjoyed this. My voice is fairly clear to me, but this made it even clearer. It’s especially useful to have measuring sticks like, “Is this something I would read?” and, “Does this achieve vulnerability?” We are schooled to have too much emphasis on the “right answer,” making authentic writing feel “dangerous,” as you said. I think all good writing is dangerous, by that definition. Thanks for the post!

Hey there Jeff, just found you somehow through Karl Rhode. I’m really enjoying your writing and your recommendations on moving into the space where one can finally call themselves a writer. It’s such a challenge and I’m looking forward to your emails to get me motivated to find my voice and take this more seriously. You’re a godsend.

Thanks Jeff, I realized I have a voice in writing ; it is always something that is innate. Even when I’m writing a short about someone else or even when I assume I am someone else in my write-ups yet I hear my voice in my head. I will be delighted to get your emails to enhance my writing skills

I needed this. Half way done with the exercise and challenged already. I discovered that I hide an important part of my voice in writing- as well as in life- because of fear. When I expose it- even briefly- that is when people flock to me and my words. Here is my heart. I must show it.

I have had this post open on my computer all week. Every day I tackled a different question. I am finally beginning to see threads of commonality through what I read and what I write. I see and feel my heartbeat. Thank you for being my teacher.

These tips are so helpful! I especially find it helpful to ask myself if my writing sounds the way I talk. When I ask myself this as I read my blog aloud, I’m able to eliminate unnecessary words or sentences or awkward phrases. As I continue my blogging adventure, I’ll be sure to refer to this list to find more continuity in my writing style.

Thank you for this. Great tips to reflect what voice do I really have in writing. This also helped me realize that how I don’t take time to “feel” while writing making. Now I’ve got somewhere to start to improve my writing. Thanks!

Thank you for this article! I had stopped writing for a while, There were other factors, but not knowing my voice was a major factor. And I had no idea what the problem was. You not only helped me to identify it but gave me tools to work my way through it!!

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Bestselling author and creativity expert Jeff Goins dismantles the myth that being creative is a hindrance to success by revealing how an artistic temperament is, in fact, a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

For centuries, the myth of the starving artist has dominated our culture, seeping into the minds of creative people and stifling their pursuits. But the truth is that the world’s most successful artists did not starve. In fact, they capitalized on the power of their creative strength. In Real Artists Don’t Starve, Jeff Goins debunks the myth of the starving artist by unveiling the ideas that created it and replacing them with fourteen rules for artists to thrive.

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I'm Jeff Goins, the best-selling author of five books including The Art of Work and Real Artists Don't Starve. Every week, I share new tips on creative work. Enter your email below and I'll send you a free book.